Wis JI-Civil 1007

Every person in all situations has a duty to exercise ordinary care for his or her own

safety. This does not mean that a person is required at all hazards to avoid injury; a person

must, however, exercise ordinary care to take precautions to avoid injury to himself or

herself.

ADDITIONAL OR OPTIONAL PARAGRAPHS

(A person must exercise ordinary care to employ (his) (her) senses of sight and

hearing so as to become aware of the existence of danger to (him) (her). A failure to do so is

negligence.)

(It is the duty of every person to exercise ordinary care to recognize and appreciate all

dangers that are open and obvious to (him) (her) or which should have been recognized and

appreciated by a reasonably prudent person under the same or similar circumstances. That the

warning of the existence of danger was not seen or was not heard does not free one from

negligence. In addition, one who looks and fails to see, or listens and fails to hear, a warning

of danger which under like or similar circumstances would have been seen or heard by a

reasonably prudent person is as negligent as one who did not look or listen at all.)

(However, a person is not bound to see every hazard or danger in his or her pathway

even though they should be plainly observable nor to remember the existence of every

condition of which the person has had knowledge. A person is only required to act as a

reasonably prudent person would act under the same or similar circumstances.)

(To be free of negligence, a person must exercise ordinary care in choosing his or her

course of conduct and in the pursuit of that choice. A person is not negligent in making a

choice of conduct if the person has no knowledge that one course of conduct carries a greater

hazard than another, provided that the lack of knowledge is not the result of the person's

failure to exercise ordinary care.)

(Insert Wis JI-Civil 1015, Negligence in an Emergency, if applicable.)